Last Modified: Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 12:03 a.m.

Surprisingly, this is the first year DuBois Nursery & Trailers in Houma has been busy selling Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, said Beanie DuBois, who co-owns the business with her husband Richard.

"Normally, the weekend after Thanksgiving is our busy time. This year, we got our trees on the 16th. We've been busy ever since we've off loaded," DuBois said.

The company began as a plant nursery and evolved over time. Though it is no longer a nursery, it continues to sell Christmas trees.

"We get our trees from Lake City, Michigan. We've been dealing with that grower for 20 years now," DuBois said.

DuBois and her husband also support local growers. They have a few Leyland Cypress trees on site that were grown in Schriever near the old Shaffer Plantation.

"We put a stand on them if they choose. We have green ones. We offer flocked, color flocked and tipped flocked," DuBois said.

DuBois also sells another kind of tree, something quit unusual and very popular.

"It's literally a dead tree that we flock from last year," she said.

"We take them home and hang them upside down. We try to keep the birds out and try to keep them from getting broken. They are usually gone before Thanksgiving because we have such a limited supply," she said.

Hanging the trees upside down helps them retain their shape so when the next holiday season comes around, the trees are not distorted or falling to pieces.

DuBois said some other popular Christmas trees they have been selling are purple ones and much larger and taller trees than in the past. Their 9- to 10-footers, 10- to 12-footers and 12- to 14-footers are already scarce.

"There are so many new subdivisions going up, and people have taller ceilings now. They just want big, pretty trees," she said.

For the past two years, the couple has been supplying the local Harley Davidson dealership with a Christmas tree.

"It was a 12- to 14-footer. We flocked it black for Harley Davidson. It's in their showroom. You can't even imagine. It's beautiful," DuBois said.

For Saints fans, the company is known for flocking trees black and spraying the branch tips yellow. It also sprays yellow tips on purple trees for LSU fans.

"We probably sell 80 percent of our trees flocked," she said.

Flocked Christmas trees are very safe for the environment. The flock is made up of wood pulp and is fire retardant and biodegradable. Flock also acts like a glue, holding the needles together better. As a result, a tree sheds less and doesn't require being watered like green and flock-tipped Christmas trees.

Plain Christmas trees start at $24.95 and go up to about $160, depending on the size. Flocked trees range from $45 to $250, DuBois said.

She said their prices have pretty much stayed the same over the past three years. Some trees have gone up by $5, and some of bigger trees have gone up by about $10. This is a result of shipping costs.

Green Acres Nursery and Christmas Store in Thibodaux, owned by Dennis Bayhi, is another company that has seen a good bit of traffic before Thanksgiving.

"We are more known for our Christmas store than anything else. We've been selling for about a month now. They've been buying since before Halloween," Bayhi said.

Green Acres mainly sells Fraser firs because of their quality. They shed less than other Christmas trees such as a Douglas Fir and are considered attractive.

"We get them from North Carolina. We receive them about 24 to 36 hours after we order. They cut them in the field, load them up and get them on the road. The trees are extremely fresh. We have 300 trees and keep them all under a cloth area," Bayhi said.

Bayhi said the business sells just as many wreaths, garlands, door pieces and other decorations as it does trees.

"For the last five years, your lime green has been popular (for decorations)," he said. "This year your burlap is very popular. Customers are going for a more natural look of garlands too — the ones that don't have all the glitter. The burlap ribbon is very popular."

Bayhi said he finds elves are more popular this season too.

"It used to be the Santa Claus and angels, and now elves are more popular than Santa Claus," he said.

Another good seller that Bayhi knows he can rely on is the nativity set. Green Acres has been open since 1974, and no matter the time of year, nativity sets are always popular.

Staff Writer Sable LeFrere can be reached at 985-857-2204 or at sable.lefrere@houmatoday.com.

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